City won't buy Kimmett Collection of phonographs

Cañon City will not be purchasing Kimmett Collection of phonographs to place on permanent display at the Royal Gorge Regional History Center and Museum.

The collection has been on loan to the museum since 2003 and that loan is set to expire in February. Leo Kimmett's family has offered the collection to the city for purchase at $300,000.

Curator Lisa Studts discussed the situation with the city's General Government Committee meeting Wednesday.

She said the in addition to the purchase cost, the city would have to invest more than $100,000 to properly preserve and store the collection.

"The cost beyond the $300,000 is what's going to hurt," Studts said.

The collection is on display in the museum and takes up about 43 percent of the entire exhibit space.

"It's a word-class collection, and that's very appealing to us," said Susan Ooton, director of libraries and museums. "The storage costs are more than I was expecting."

"It really seems overwhelming for us," said Councilwoman Pat Frieda.

Councilman Dennis Weid said the museum would be better served by returning the collection to the owners at the end of the loan period. The other committee members agreed.

The committee also discussed the Chamber of Commerce funding contract and funding for the Entertainment in the Park summer series. They agreed to give $5,000 for Entertainment in the Park and discuss the chamber contract at the January council retreat.

They also received an update on the process of purchasing three new police vehicles, which should be able to happen in January.